2023-12-14 00:19:38
Israel pledges to continue fighting even without international support
Fierce clashes continued and deepened in the north and south of the Gaza Strip, on the 68th day of the war on the Strip, while Israel pledged to continue this war even without international support.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his government “will continue until the end, until victory, until the destruction of (Hamas). There is no doubt about this.” During a visit to the armored forces camp in the southern region, Netanyahu added: “International pressure will not stop us.”
Netanyahu’s statements came shortly after statements by Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, in which he stressed that his government will not stop the fire in Gaza at this stage because that would be a mistake, and that Israel will continue its war even without international support. Cohen added: “Israel will continue the war against Hamas, whether with or without international support. A ceasefire at the current stage will be a gift to Hamas and will allow it to threaten the population of Israel again.”
Gaza War on the 68th Day (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Cohen’s statements came before a meeting of the Israeli War Council that precedes the arrival of US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to Israel to discuss the latest developments in Israel and Gaza.
It seems that Israel wanted to deliver a clear message to the American administration after their differences became public, and before Sullivan began pressure related to reducing the intensity of the fighting, proposing a final date for the war, and opening additional crossings, and regarding the day after the war.
Israeli media said that Israel is positively considering opening the Kerem Shalom crossing to bring aid into Gaza – for the first time since the beginning of the war against the backdrop of American pressure.
Opening the Kerem Shalom crossing is one of the main demands that Sullivan will carry with him when he arrives in Israel on Thursday.
Since October 7, Israel has not allowed aid to enter the Gaza Strip, but has opened a new checkpoint at the Kerem Shalom crossing.
The Israeli Walla website said that if Israel agreed to the American request, it would be a major change in policy.
Israel apparently wants to vent American anger related to the death of a huge number of civilians in Gaza, and Tel Aviv’s failure to respond to the American proposal about the future of the Strip, by opening the Kerem Shalom crossing, in a move that will be interpreted as relieving pressure on Gaza.
Israel’s pledge to continue fighting came while violent clashes continued in the northern, central and southern Gaza Strip, taking a more ferocious turn.
The Israeli army confirmed on Wednesday that its forces killed and arrested fighters, and discovered tunnels and infrastructure in the northern Gaza area and in Khan Yunis in the south, and are continuing to fight there, including in the Shujaiya neighborhood east of Gaza City, which has turned into a disturbing “nightmare” for the Israelis.
The Israeli army spokesman announced, on Wednesday, that the Golani Brigade forces are continuing to fight in the Shujaiya neighborhood, in fierce battles. He acknowledged that the fighting in Shujaiya is difficult and confusing, but it continues.
This came after the army announced that 10 officers and soldiers were killed in the neighborhood in battles on Tuesday, an announcement that shook Israel.
The Israeli army said that 10 soldiers were killed in Shujaiya, including Colonel Tomer Greenberg, commander of the 13th Battalion in the Golani Brigade, in addition to a platoon commander in the 13th Battalion, named Roi Maldasi, and Major Moshe Avraham Bar-On (23 years old), a company commander in the 51st Battalion of the Golani Brigade. “Golani Brigade.”
Victim numbers continue to rise (Asharq Al-Awsat)
It turned out that the Qassam fighters had placed the Golani forces in a precise ambush, and attacked them and the forces that arrived to rescue them in 3 stages.
Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy described what happened as very difficult, while Minister in the Israeli War Council Benny Gantz said that Israel is paying a heavy, painful and difficult price in the “second war of survival,” as he called it.
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted sources in the Israeli army as saying that the battles in Shuja’iya are very bloody, but necessary, because the “Shuja’iya Battalion” cannot be destroyed by bombing from the air.
Israeli sources said that Shuja’iyya is located not far from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, and therefore the area must be carefully examined to determine the locations of the “terrorist” tunnels and infrastructure there.
While Israel pledged to continue fighting, Hamas pledged to increase the bill of Israeli deaths and losses the longer the occupation army remained in Gaza. Hamas said in a statement that the announcement of the killing of the ten soldiers in Shujaiya “confirms the extent of the loss and failure of the occupation leaders and its army in the face of the might of the resistance and the Al-Qassam Brigades, who are fulfilling their promise to make Gaza a cemetery for the invaders.” She added: “We say to an occupying state: You have no choice but to withdraw from Gaza.” She continued: “The longer you stay there, the greater the bill of your deaths and losses, and you will emerge from it trailing disappointment and loss.”
Israeli soldiers prepare to participate in the war against the Gaza Strip on Wednesday (AFP)
The “Al-Qassam Brigades” announced that they had killed more soldiers and attacked homes in which they were barricaded on the frontlines of the advance in Gaza, and bombed command centers, control rooms, and concentrations, and also bombed Ashdod. Al-Qassam said that it killed and wounded 15 soldiers in another joint ambush with the Al-Quds Brigades, the military arm of Islamic Jihad.
Al-Qassam published videos of its fighters targeting Israeli tanks and vehicles in Gaza.
As the fighting intensified, the Israeli bombing intensified, affecting large areas in Gaza. The spokesman for the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, Ashraf Al-Qudra, said on Wednesday that the number of Palestinian deaths since the start of the Israeli war has risen to 18,608, while the number of injured has increased to more than 50,000.
The intense bombing led to continued displacement inside Gaza.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said on Wednesday that 85 percent of Gaza’s population has been internally displaced, and that he expects more displacement.
A large number of displaced people gathered in the city of Rafah, located in the far south of the Strip on the border with Egypt, which turned it into a huge camp for the displaced.
Transporting the bodies of victims killed in Israeli raids on Rafah today, Wednesday (AP)
The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said that the Palestinians are facing “the darkest chapter in their history since 1948, even though it is a painful history.”
He added during the “Global Refugee Forum”: “The population of Gaza is now clustered in less than a third of the original lands, near the Egyptian border. The city of Rafah, located on the Egyptian border, and where there is the only crossing open for humanitarian aid heading to the Gaza Strip, has increased its population from 280 thousand people to more than one million people.
He continued: “It is unrealistic to think that people will remain steadfast in the face of such living conditions, especially when the borders are so close.”
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